The HobbyBoss 1/32 B24D Liberator.

[Jim R]

A long slow process but one where the end result will be perfect. Re- scribing will need another round of care and patience.

[BarryW]

This morning I went over her with a 400 grit sanding sponge. I was carefully checking for any ‘protuberances’ and eliminating them. Each time I now go over this the amount of material removed will be less, it will be 600 grade next.

I then went over the seams looking for ‘dents’ or impressions in the seams by holding them up to the light. I then dropped some Mr Dissolved Putty onto them with a disposable brush. This will take several hours to fully cure off and being very self-levelling it will sink into those ‘dents’ leaving little on the surface around the dent. MDP is the perfect ‘surface leveller’ and absolutely ideal for this. It is too thin to be a true putty that fills gaps and if you tried you would be disappointed.

One great use for this would be where you have a finger print on the plastic caused by thin cement running between finger and plastic. (Yes, we all do it!) In these cases there are valleys sunk into the plastic and ridges. Just sanding will take off the ridges but will still leave you with the depressions in the surface, OK you can keep sanding, but better still, before sanding off the ridges (perhaps a light initial sanding) apply Mr Dissolved Putty to the surface. Then leave it, perhaps overnight. You will find that the ‘filler material’ will sink into the valley and will be mostly evaporated from the surface. Then you sand off the ridges leaving a perfect surface. Sometimes you might need two treatments. One tip, when it thickens, thin it with a few drops of Me Levelling Thinner. A bottle of this should be in everyone’s armoury.

Here she is having applied the MDP in spots and some seam areas.

[BarryW]

I have finished the seams, at least for now. I will have to return to them when I have done the primer as there are bound to be flaws to treat.

On to scribing. This is a skill that I do not claim to have mastered but it must be done.

Below are the tools I utilise

The main scribers are MRP, they are very sharp and are the best I have found. The two ‘toothed’ ones are also useful and I find I have better control with them. Essential, for someone like me who cannot scribe a straight line even using the guide tape, is Mr Dissolved Putty which is the perfect filler for errors!!! Also pictured are my Rosie the riveters. I use a fine 1000 grade sanding sponge to clean up edges, along with extra thin cement (Mr Cement S in my case) to clean up sanding dust from panel lines and rivet holes.

Now during the process of filling and sanding, the ball turret broke away from its mount. Inevitable really with all the shaking. It was a clean break but there is simply no hope at all of being able to cement it back into position, it’s just impossible to see to position it. Fortunately nothing of the mount can be seen so I cut away the top hamper from the turret and the long pins from from the hatch insert.

The good news is that the insert is a perfect fit.

My only option will be to use c.a. to glue the actual guns to the bottom of the depressions for them and, hopefully, the turret will be held in place.


A pic of the fuselage, as it looks now.


The Turret and insert will need to be part of ‘final fittings’.

[scottie3158]

Barry,
All the time and attention are paying dividends.

[Jim R]

Looking good. Hopefully very little further work will be needed on the seams. Scribing is indeed a skill especially on a curved surface.

[BarryW]

I have put together the tail. Fit was good though with tight tolerances. It fits perfectly to the tail with a click. I cemented it into place but leaving the end unglued to provide a bit of spring when fitting the rear turret into place.


I have started work on the wings, more on that later.

For now though, I clumsily over-tightened the airbrush nozzle and it sheered off. I decided to get a new airbrush which, hopefully, will be delivered tomorrow and, for this, I have really lashed out on the most expensive airbrush bought yet….. I will do a thread and review when I get it!…..

[Jim R]

I have really lashed out on the most expensive airbrush bought yet…..

Intrigued :thinking:

[Steve Brodie]

wow

[BarryW]

I have made a start on the wings, constructing the wheel wells. Before gluing them into the lower wings I sprayed them with the new airbrush, plus the wheel well edges on the wing itself.

The wheel wells are nicely detailed but I will have more work to do on them.


Other wing parts waiting to be brought together.


Below is a page from the instructions. As you can see they call for the top and bottom wings to be clamped around the spars rather than be slid into them.

Instead, for obvious reasons,
I want to complete the wings, including camo, decals and weathering, before sliding them onto the spars. Looking at the parts I see no reason to think that would be a problem and a test ‘play’ a while back confirmed this. Before I come to that I want to do a test fit again, with the wing top and bottoms firmly clamped together. I may need to do a little sanding due to tight tolerances and I won’t want the wing seams sprung by forcing the wings into place.

I will play around with that as soon as I get a chance.

[BarryW]

Just a quick update. After a fair bit of fiddling around and testing it is clear that sliding the wings on will need a lot of modification. As the wings fit beautifully into place and the spars give a lot of strength and rigidity that is needed, I don’t want to risk that. Consequently I will be fitting the wings around the spars and getting them firmly glued in place.

It will make handling the model somewhat harder but it fits on the bench, just about and I should manage it OK. Spraying it will be a lot of fun!!!

I will fit the wings tomorrow and will show photos.

[BarryW]

Only now, having fitted the lower wing section, can the sheer size of this model be appreciated with its 42 inch wingspan.


It will look bigger still once the elevators, ailerons and top wing are fitted.

I will let the cement fully cure before fitting the rest of the wings sections. I have to say that the fit is perfect with no filler at all needed around the lower wing roots. It is a first class piece of engineering.

[adt70hk]

That is huge..... Well look most impressive once done Barry.

[Andy T]

Wow!

Now I see why you've had to put so much thought into displaying it.

[Tim Marlow]

Now that’s a lot of wing……looking good though.

[Steven000]

Huge indeed! :tears-of-joy: Will look super nice when finished :thumb2:
Have fun!